When the Anaheim Ducks released their 2024 training camp roster earlier this week, Tristan Luneau was one of 20 defensemen listed. The Victoriaville, Quebec native enters his second Ducks training camp on the heels of an odd and challenging year that saw him make the big club straight out of camp last season, play just seven games in the NHL, get loaned to Hockey Canada for the World Junior Championship (where he was expected to star), only to suffer a significant viral knee infection that ended his season altogether.
All that to say, this is a unique situation for the young player. Throw in general manager Pat Verbeek’s surprising midseason trade that shipped Jamie Drysdale, once thought to be one of the Ducks’ saviors on the blue line, to the Philadelphia Flyers, and Luneau suddenly is the only right-shot defenseman in the Ducks’ system that looks as if he can be an effective, hopefully game-changing, two-way defenseman for the foreseeable future. We’ll take a look at that and more as we break down some 2024-25 expectations for Luneau.
Luneau’s 2023-24 Was Brief but Eventful
Like his teammate Pavel Mintyukov, Luneau made the opening night roster in 2023-24. These two additions back then meant there was no room for Olen Zellweger, who started the season with the San Diego Gulls in the American Hockey League (AHL). Whether it was because Luneau wasn’t eligible for the AHL, looked better in training camp, or Verbeek and head coach Greg Cronin knew they would only have him up for nine or less games, doesn’t matter really. They are all where they are supposed to be now, which is at Great Park Ice and Fivepoint Arena, vying for meaningful roles on the Ducks’ blue line this season.
His best work came in the final three games he dressed for the Ducks last season. In those three contests, he played no less than 18:17 or 21 shifts, including a season-high 22:40 in a close 1-0 loss on Dec. 7 to the Chicago Blackhawks. The highlight of his brief stint in Anaheim was his two-point night (one goal, one assist) in just his fifth career game against the Washington Capitals. His goal was a thing of beauty and resulted from his willingness and ability to jump up into plays and create opportunities on offense – something that has been missing from the Ducks’ blue line for a long time.
Rare Injury and Time Off Leave Question Marks
Just prior to the start of the last pre-World Junior Championship games, Luneau came down with a viral infection in his knees that forced his withdrawal from the tournament, one he had a real chance to make a big impact in. It was a great opportunity to show on the international stage why he made the Ducks out of training camp as a 19-year-old. But it wasn’t meant to be, and Luneau’s recovery began with surgery and extensive rehabilitation on both coasts of the US.
As most athletes suffering from serious injuries have done, Luneau used the time to develop other parts of his body while the injured areas healed. San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane commented, “He certainly invested in his body. He comes back and he looks like an animal. He’s certainly got a great frame to be successful and to propel him forward” (from ‘Why Ducks’ Tristan Luneau, with ‘one step ahead,’ could be posted the thrive”, The Athletic, Sept. 18, 2024).
This kind of endorsement certainly breeds optimism, but the nature of the injury and the time away from the game certainly brings up questions. Granted, it’s not an external injury that poses any risk of reinjury, which is always something to worry about. But there’s also the adjustment period in coming back from an injury that keeps you away from the game this long. How quickly will he adjust to the speed of the NHL, especially when he only played seven games to begin with, the last of which was on Dec. 7, 2023? Will a summer of training and one training camp prepare him for the physical grind, or the conditioning required to be an impact player? These are questions we’d ask of anyone, but they are a little more prevalent in Luneau’s case given his lack of experience to begin with.
Luneau Should Make the Team and Serve a Middle-Four Role on Defense, to Start
I say all of that to bring it back to the main question, which is: does Luneau make the team, and if he does, where does he fit?
For him in particular, it’s a tough question because there are multiple ways to look at the Ducks’ blue line. For one, they are thin on the right side but can play left-handed defensemen on the right if they need to. Radko Gudas, who was just named the ninth captain in Ducks history, is the only other right-shot defenseman under contract. Gustav Lindstrom, who joined the Ducks in the middle of the 2023-24 campaign, recently signed a professional tryout (PTO) with the Ducks and will compete for a spot.
If we back up and look at the big picture, nobody’s spot on the blue line should be guaranteed because the Ducks have struggled mightily to keep the puck out of their net for seasons now. So, logic suggests that there absolutely is room for Luneau if he has a great training camp. On the other hand, there is a traffic jam of defensemen, most of which are not coming off major injuries. One has to wonder if Verbeek and Cronin are not already thinking about Luneau catching back up in the AHL, where he will likely dominate. Either school of thought is plausible.
Related: Ducks September Series: 2024-25 Expectations for Pavel Mintyukov
My prediction is he makes the team but is eased into action as a second to third-pairing player, for now. Verbeek and Cronin obviously liked Luneau’s game enough to feel that Drysdale was no longer necessary. Time will tell whether that’s true. At 6-foot-1, he’s bigger than Drysdale. He has comparable offensive instincts, and demonstrated in his minimal NHL action that he can impact the game on both sides of the puck. As the Ducks’ depth chart plays out over the next few seasons, Luneau has a real chance to be an impact defenseman for this team. Cam Fowler, Gudas, Mintyukov, and potentially Zellweger are all likely to be given most of the responsibilities, at least to start, but I can easily see Luneau settling in over the course of the season and starting to become a featured part of the Ducks’ gameplan, not unlike his fellow Canadian Hockey League Defenseman of the Year Award winners-turned teammates.
